Iran: U.S. Carrier Mock-Up Is for a Movie

Iran-owned Al-Alam News Network reports that Iran’s mock-up of a U.S. Nimitz-class carrier is being “built for a film titled Airbus, about the July 3, 1988 downing of civilian passenger plane Air Flight 655 by the USS Vincennes.”

However, Al-Monitor.com says the mock-up is for a movie which will be a “joint Iranian-Canadian production.” The movie is being “co-directed by Nader Talebzadeh and Paxton Winters and will star both Iranian and American actors.”

The USS Vincennes was “a guided missile class cruiser, not an aircraft carrier.” Al-Monitor did not explain how a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier would figure in a movie about a cruiser.

A U.S. official speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity said, “[The Iranians] got this barge and threw some wood on top of it to make it look like the USS Nimitz. That’s all we know for sure.”